Tag Archives: gay conversion therapy

Straight, No Chaser: In the News – Gay Conversion Therapy

Straight, No Chaser previously reviewed the scientific basis for whether homosexuality is a choice. As was the case with this previous question, the issue of gay conversion therapy was brought prominently into the public eye politicized (i.e. via Marcus Bachmann, the husband of the former Minnesota congressperson). Just yesterday, The Iowa Senate approved a bill banning gay conversion therapy. This effort follows bans that have passed in California, New Jersey and the District of Columbia.
In this post, the questions surrounding gay conversion therapy are reviewed by answering five questions.

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  1. What is gay conversion therapy? Gay conversion therapy is an effort to facilitate gays “overcoming” their homosexual attractions. These efforts are usually promoted by religious organizations, not the psychological/mental health or medical communities – none of which views homosexuality as a mental disorder.
  2. How is gay conversion therapy supposed to work? Given that it’s not an acknowledged medically- or psychologically-approved course of treatment, there’s no consensus approach to gay conversion therapy, and as such it’s often referred to as an attempt to “pray the gay away.” Prior efforts over the years weren’t as benign and included electric shock therapy (both as a means of negative reinforcement to gay thoughts and as a means to induce seizures and promote memory loss), psychoanalysis (“talk therapy”), coupling the administration of nausea-inducement while showing homosexual erotica, and estrogen therapy in men (presumably to reduce libido). It is of note that in the not-too-distant past, this so-called therapy was often court-mandated. It is of interest that Sigmund Freud railed against the need and predicted failure in any effectiveness of gay conversation therapy back in the 1920s. Even so, homosexuality was in fact classified as a mental disorder until 1973.
  3. Does gay conversation therapy work? No. The American Psychological Association (APA) performed a summary review of gay conversation therapy in 2009, reporting “These studies show that enduring change to an individual’s sexual orientation is uncommon.” Those undergoing gay conversation therapy generally continued to report same-sex attractions and denied higher levels of opposite-sex attractions.
  4. Is gay conversation therapy harmful? Obviously some past efforts such as electric shock therapy have physical consequences, but the real focus of this question is the damage to mental health. The entire premise of gay conversation therapy is a mental disorder exists, which hasn’t been demonstrated medically or in the behavioral health literature. As such, the entities left to presumed problems exist with homosexuality are religious entities or others inclined to be intolerant of these individuals and/or their lifestyles. The APA flatly states the real danger to the mental health of homosexuals are systemic pressure to conform and ongoing prejudice. Gay conversion therapy intensifies these pressures, and as such has specific adverse effects including anxiety, depression and suicidal thoughts and actions.
  5. Why do people presume gay conversion therapy works? In 2003 Dr. Robert Spitzer, a psychiatrist largely responsible for removal of homosexuality from the APA’s mental disorder list, reported that a review of conversion therapy suggested some people could change sexual orientation. Given the stature of Dr. Spitzer, this was quite the endorsement. Groups that promote conversion therapy often point to a single study to support their work. Less than ten years later, he retracted his comments based on the lack of scientific effort supporting his claim.

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There are currently lawsuits addressing gay conversation therapy. Those against it note its ineffectiveness and the consequences of having had it. In fact a New Jersey state court recently upheld the ban there on the basis that conversion therapy constitutes consumer fraud. The lawsuits supporting gay conversion therapy focus on freedom of speech concerns instead of any actual demonstrated benefit. The implication here is efforts at mind control are free speech instead of a psychiatric practice. 

Frankly, gay conversion therapy represents another example of measures that would be best dealt with be applying objective criteria to determine any effectiveness and let the chips fall where they may. To that end, there currently does not exist data that supports it’s effectiveness. Efforts to suggest otherwise are occurring with other considerations, if not agenda, in play.
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Straight, No Chaser: An Overview of the Literature on Homosexuality

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This overly simplistic post doesn’t mean to suggest the science on the topic is settled. It does aims to review the topic sufficiently to provide a very general scientific overview. In this Straight, No Chaser, I’ll reveal a few simple points that reflect the existing medical consensus. In a subsequent post, we will review gay conversion therapy.
In a vivid example of how the political landscape is attempting to shout out science, Presidential hopeful and world-renowned retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson has opined that homosexuality is “absolutely” a choice. However, instead of the use of any available science to support his argument, Dr. Carson uses the happenstance of men engaging in homosexuality in prison and expressing homosexuality after prison release as “evidence.” Trust me, he knows that’s not how science works.
There’s an important consideration to discuss here. The nature of science is such that scientists need to be oblivious to the facts that unfold before them. Scientific truths are beholden to political agendas, although scientific biases often get in the way of accurate research. So going into the conversation, one’s opinions really are less relevant than you’d imagine. In other words, an unbiased scientist must be open to any possible outcome.

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Regarding outcomes, here are three straightforward points that are actually supported by the medical literature:

  • People can’t change their sexual orientation of choice. What is more likely to be occurring is expression of an already existent orientation. Genetic research suggests the presence of the equivalence of “switches,” meaning factors in DNA that can promote expression of homosexuality given the necessary environmental triggers. This alone would explain the “jail phenomenon.”
  • Homosexuality has at least an established genetic basis. Other animals, including those close to humans on the evolutionary scale, display homosexual behaviors and same-sex pairings. If you are interested in specific information on this matter, you should review research on the genes Xq28 and chromosome 8; there are suggestions that are present more often in gay men. Furthermore, studies of identical twins reveal a higher incidence of shared homosexuality than among siblings or fraternal (non-identical) twins.
  • Research demonstrates that efforts to change sexual orientation in either direction are unable to do so without significant psychological consequences. It is of interest to note the following fact without judgment: existing research suggests women do in fact have a greater ability to have levels of attraction adjusted throughout life than do men, whose sexual orientation appears to be well formed by the onset of puberty. This phenomenon is known as “erotic plasticity.”

homosexuality-USE.svg_The last point speaks to why efforts at gay conversion therapy have proven ineffective. There is also one more point to be made here. The prevailing scientific evidence speaking against homosexuality has been debunked and the author of the paper promoting the notion has reversed his findings. Both points will be explored further in an additional Straight, No Chaser post.
Thanks for liking and following Straight, No Chaser! This public service provides a sample of what 844-SMA-TALK and http://www.SterlingMedicalAdvice.com (SMA) offers. Please share our page with your friends on WordPress. We are also on Facebook at SterlingMedicalAdvice.com and Twitter at @asksterlingmd.

Copyright © 2015 · Sterling Initiatives, LLC · Powered by WordPress